Youll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase.

Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common.

Select four items and hit the Submit button.

If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed.

(Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.)

If your guess was incorrect, youll get a chance to have another go.

You win when youve correctly identified all four groups.

But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.

Expect to see overlapping groups.

So dont hit submit until youve confirmed that your group of four containsonlythose four things.

If youre stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to havenoconnection to the others.

Another way to win when youre stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints.

Below, Ill give you some oblique hints at todays Connections answers.

And further down the page, Ill reveal the themes and the answers.

Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!

Does todays Connections game require any special knowledge?

Also known as a teeter totter, or other equally silly names.

Im including this in the list for those who grew up calling it something else.

Or, for that matter, one of the skeleton charactersin Undertale.

CROOK - along stick with a hooked end, traditionally used for herding sheep or goats.

Green category - Good for someone with the power to change minds.

Blue category - This one is buried in the sands of time.

Does todays Connections game involve any wordplay?

Not today, which is rare!

The groupings are all based on the meanings of the words.

Ready to hear the answers?

Keep scrolling if you want a little more help.

BEWARE: Spoilers and answers follow for todays Connections puzzle!

Ready to learn the answers to todays Connections puzzle?

I give them all away below.

What are the yellow words in todays Connections?

The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward.

What are the green words in todays Connections?

The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest.

What are the blue words in todays Connections?

The blue grouping is the second-hardest.

What are the purple words in todays Connections?

The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest.

PAPYRUS stood out immediately, and I thought of the font, and look!

Right there in the grid are TIMES, IMPACT, and COURIER.

Four classic fonts (all popularized via Microsoft products, if Im recalling my history right).

Next up I saw SEESAW, SWING, SLIDE, and SANDBOX.

The Egyptian words stood out at me next.

I suppose PAPYRUS could have thrown me if I hadnt immediately lumped it in with fonts.

It took me a minute to notice the last member of the groupthe EYE of Horus.

That left CLOUT, PULL, SWAY, and WEIGHT, all terms for influence.

I bet IMPACT was supposed to be a confounder for this category, but too late!

I used it up earlier.